The Near-Earth Object (NEO) 267494 (2002 JB9) was discovered by the LINEAR NEO Survey on May 6 2002 (MPEC 2002-J23). With an absolute magnitude H=15.7 and Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance MOID=0.034 AU, the object has been identified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) by the Minor Planet center. 2002 JB9 has orbital elements similar to Jupiter-family comets (a,e,i,T=2.72,0.79,47,2.53).

The extremely shallow solar phase curve generated from our photometry
(Figure 3)
was best fit with a phase parameter g=0.91, consistent with a high albedo and E-type spectral classification. Barring extreme shape/illumination geometries, the phase parameter of 2002 JB9 exceeds the highest tabulated in the JPL HORIZONS and Lowell ASTORB databases (1627 Ivar; g=0.60). For comparison, 44 Nysa (the archetypal E-type asteroid) has a measured g=0.46 and albedo rho=0.55. Our four nights of photometry yielded a synodic period P_syn = 2.415+/-0.001 hr
(Figure 4), . The phase/albedo relationship discussed by Belskaya and Shevchenko (Icarus 147, 2000) suggests that the albedo of 2002 JB9 may be as high as 0.8-0.9. Fourteen archived WISE/NEOWISE infrared fields obtained January 16-17 2010 were expected to contain 2002 JB9. These frames were stacked, coadded, and examined carefully but no moving object was detected. The large heliocentric distance (r=4.5 AU) precluded meaningful albedo constraints from the WISE/NEOWISE flux upper limits. Additional thermal/polarimetric observations are encouraged.

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. The research described in this telegram was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The student participation was supported by the National Science Foundation under REU grant 0852088 to Cal State LA.